Garland’s newly launched book was formally presented to the reading public on Sunday, May 10 in Lagos.
The now author and environmentalist is worried about the lack of awareness about climate change in some parts of Africa a continent which has seen a lot of serious climate issues like flooding, drought, a loss of biodiversity leading to infectious diseases.
“Japan, as we all know, has suffered the worst hit of earthquakes. The Philippines has suffered from typhoons, earthquakes and other disasters,” she said at the launch.
“It is so sad because they are very vulnerable because of the position they occupy in the equator of the earth, and it just happens that they are the ones that are greatly affected by climate change.
“Our cause is to make sure that as we make sales on this book, we are going to these specific countries.
“We are selecting six of them, to plant trees and to also make sure that the impact of climate change is eased. It is important to note that each book sale equals two trees planted.”
Garland’s new work has 10 chapters which cover the effects of climate change in Africa, the effect of biodiversity in the Middle East, the activities of companies regarding the emission of fossil fuel, how politics is affecting the fight against climate catastrophe, the agricultural controversy surrounding climate change as well as government’s response to climate change.
The book also proffers answers to the question of what lies ahead, because, as Garland puts it, it is quite evident that we cannot turn a blind eye to our human activities and how it affects climate change.
“We should all gather around to have a proper discussion about the big elephant in the room, that is the earth, and how we can protect it,” she said.
“The ball is in our court. We have to make sure that we reduce, we reuse, we recycle, and we have to make sure that the generations to come will not have worse adverse effects climate change that we haven’t even experienced yet.”
Garland through her foundation, Beyond Garland Initiative, will carry out tree planting projects across the world to plant a million trees.
The trees will be planted in countries that are very vulnerable to the effect of climate change and include Japan, Philippines, Germany, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Rwanda, Canada and the Fiji Islands.